Fishman column on SCAD a 'biased hatchet job'
Editor,
I'm frankly very disappointed in Jane Fishman's latest rant against the Savannah College of Art and Design ("Getting some heat and giving it too," Aug. 3)
Ê It seems, based on this article, that when she can't come up with substantive and pithy content, suggestion and innuendo with some selective reframing of events and their context will work just fine, eh? I've never seen a more biased hatchet job. Maybe she should try looking up a few facts, hmmm?ÊLike the following:
Ê 1. ACA approached SCAD with the idea of an integration of programs, unlike Ms. Fishman's characterization that implies that this affiliation is a hostile act by SCAD.
Ê 2. The terms of the 1996 out-of-court settlement, as Ms. Fishman indicates, were sealed, but that does not seem to stop her from speculating publicly about what she thinks may have happened or why.
Ê 3. Not only are the college's finances a matter of public record, but they are also a matter of scrutiny for the college's accreditation agency, which reaffirmed the college's financial good standing as recently as 1999.
Ê 4. Recently hired faculty members at ACA do not have tenure.
Ê But of course, why allow facts to get in the way of a good hatchet job? To turn Ms. Fishman's own phrase: who need facts when you've got a grudge?ÊI'm writing this e-mail to make sure you're aware of just how precarious some of the comments she's made are and that you've taken steps to inform Ms. Fishman that innuendo, speculation, and suggestion are not the basis of an adequate foundation for honest journalism.
Kevin Conlon
Editor's Note:While some of Mr. Conlon's points may remain debatable, his fourth point is unarguable. The Atlanta College of Art has not offered tenure for quite some years now, though a few long-serving faculty do retain tenure under a prior agreement.
The facts about terrorism
Editor,
While mourning the senseless loss of innocent life in London's recent bomb attacks we need to be reminded of a few very simple facts: It is a fact is that the so-called war against terror in Iraq has worked in reverse. It is a fact that Saddam's Iraq was not a hot-bed for terrorist activity, while that's exactly what it is now that we have removed him and "saved" the people he oppressed.
It is a fact that we are spending a tiny fraction of what needs to be spent to secure our cities and borders from terrorist attack; it's also a fact that what is needed can't and won't be spent--not this year nor in any year we can reasonably expect to shine a future light upon. How do we explain these most critical facts?
Very simply:We wasted the huge surplus left by the Clinton administration (while squandering our grand-children's inheritances) on tax breaks for the wealthy and the "war on terror" in IRAQ!
Archie Wilson
The new silent majority?
Editor,
Surveys and polls where anonymity is the norm indicate a new party
forming: Closet Liberals.
By large majorities the public is in favor of socialized medicine, minimum wage increases, women's right to chose, status quo Social Security. Conversely they are opposed to special interest groups, unfair complicated tax codes, unjust wars, executive, legislative and judicial lies deceiving the public.
The strong right wing conservative minority has branded the liberal agenda as an unpatriotic extremist left wing underclass. Combined with the vast majority of the media, they expound the tried and true formula:
If you tell a lie long and loud enough, the public perceives it as the truth.
Combining all of the above with a heavy dose of being part of the group, image, religion and the American flag, they have succeeded in forming the Closet Liberal Party.
Sal Miceli
Editor,
I'm frankly very disappointed in Jane Fishman's latest rant against the Savannah College of Art and Design ("Getting some heat and giving it too," Aug. 3)
Ê It seems, based on this article, that when she can't come up with substantive and pithy content, suggestion and innuendo with some selective reframing of events and their context will work just fine, eh? I've never seen a more biased hatchet job. Maybe she should try looking up a few facts, hmmm?ÊLike the following:
Ê 1. ACA approached SCAD with the idea of an integration of programs, unlike Ms. Fishman's characterization that implies that this affiliation is a hostile act by SCAD.
Ê 2. The terms of the 1996 out-of-court settlement, as Ms. Fishman indicates, were sealed, but that does not seem to stop her from speculating publicly about what she thinks may have happened or why.
Ê 3. Not only are the college's finances a matter of public record, but they are also a matter of scrutiny for the college's accreditation agency, which reaffirmed the college's financial good standing as recently as 1999.
Ê 4. Recently hired faculty members at ACA do not have tenure.
Ê But of course, why allow facts to get in the way of a good hatchet job? To turn Ms. Fishman's own phrase: who need facts when you've got a grudge?ÊI'm writing this e-mail to make sure you're aware of just how precarious some of the comments she's made are and that you've taken steps to inform Ms. Fishman that innuendo, speculation, and suggestion are not the basis of an adequate foundation for honest journalism.
Kevin Conlon
Editor's Note:While some of Mr. Conlon's points may remain debatable, his fourth point is unarguable. The Atlanta College of Art has not offered tenure for quite some years now, though a few long-serving faculty do retain tenure under a prior agreement.
The facts about terrorism
Editor,
While mourning the senseless loss of innocent life in London's recent bomb attacks we need to be reminded of a few very simple facts: It is a fact is that the so-called war against terror in Iraq has worked in reverse. It is a fact that Saddam's Iraq was not a hot-bed for terrorist activity, while that's exactly what it is now that we have removed him and "saved" the people he oppressed.
It is a fact that we are spending a tiny fraction of what needs to be spent to secure our cities and borders from terrorist attack; it's also a fact that what is needed can't and won't be spent--not this year nor in any year we can reasonably expect to shine a future light upon. How do we explain these most critical facts?
Very simply:We wasted the huge surplus left by the Clinton administration (while squandering our grand-children's inheritances) on tax breaks for the wealthy and the "war on terror" in IRAQ!
Archie Wilson
The new silent majority?
Editor,
Surveys and polls where anonymity is the norm indicate a new party
forming: Closet Liberals.
By large majorities the public is in favor of socialized medicine, minimum wage increases, women's right to chose, status quo Social Security. Conversely they are opposed to special interest groups, unfair complicated tax codes, unjust wars, executive, legislative and judicial lies deceiving the public.
The strong right wing conservative minority has branded the liberal agenda as an unpatriotic extremist left wing underclass. Combined with the vast majority of the media, they expound the tried and true formula:
If you tell a lie long and loud enough, the public perceives it as the truth.
Combining all of the above with a heavy dose of being part of the group, image, religion and the American flag, they have succeeded in forming the Closet Liberal Party.
Sal Miceli
